Cake for Papa

Anna was in the mood to bake something yummy, and today is my dad's birthday . . .

. . . so she decided to make and decorate an olive oil birthday cake. 

Happy birthday, Papa!  We love you!

Oh, How My Garden Grows

Do you remember . . .

. . . when my little garden looked like this back in mid May?

Six weeks can make a big difference!

Cereal Bars and Lunges

Today is our first day of actual summer vacation (which feels like it started three months ago).

Now that virtual learning is over and the kids have more time on their hands, Anna asked to make a cereal bar recipe she found in a magazine.

I helped with the measuring, then Anna handled the stirring.

The cereal bars actually turned out pretty well. :)

I also bought some workbooks to keep the kids mentally engaged this summer.  I mainly wanted Daniel and Anna to work on their writing, but I also bought a workbook for Todd, which he couldn't wait to get started on.

He even faithfully did the fitness assignments.  Now, that's dedication.

Water Art and Corona Bunny

The number of COVID-19 cases is tapering off in our area (and we're getting a little stir crazy in our house), so we decided to visit another family this morning.  The kids had fun playing . . . 

. . . and meeting our friends' new pet bunnies.  This one is named Herbert Nenninger (a nod to PBS's "Curious George" cartoon series) . . .

. . . and that one is named Corona, because one of the teenage boys in the family thought it would be funny to name a rabbit after a pandemic.  It's actually a pretty name, if you don't think about it too much.

When it was my turn to hold Herbert, I discovered that he is amazingly soft.  Then he scrambled out of my arms a few minutes later, and I learned that he is also amazingly scratchy.

Back at home, Joy decided to try her hand at squirt gun sketching.  Anna initially objected, since there's a drought in our area and we're supposed to be limiting our water use, but we eventually agreed we could spare a little H2O in the name of art.

Virtual Learning Is DONE!

Today was the final day of a very odd school year.

At 9am, I drove Anna to her school, where masked teachers had gathered to applaud, cheer, and generally wish the third graders a happy summer.

At 9:30am, Todd joined our family's very last school Zoom call (hopefully forever).

Around 10am, Daniel and I headed back to the school so the teachers could clap and cheer for him, and so he could get his Graduating Fifth Grader T-shirt.

Anna thought the cheering teachers were fun, but the applause made Daniel feel a bit awkward.

He was happy to get his shirt though.

Beating the Heat

Well, the skylight tarp helped a little, but as the heat wave dragged on and our house got warmer and warmer . . .

. . . we finally caved and bought a couple of portable air conditioners.

We also followed some friends' advice and hung sheets over a few doorways, so the AC units would only have to cool the rooms we spend the most time in.  Pulling a curtain aside on my way to the dining room actually feels kind of exotic, as if we're living in some giant tent on the Silk Road.

In another effort to beat the heat, the kids moved a bunch of their toys to the basement, since it's still literally the coolest place to hang out.

A Tomato Mushroom, and Other Stuff

Today . . .

. . . I spotted Globey and Spike playing Mancala in the bonus room . . .

. . . Anna attended her last Zoom call of the school year (after having them nearly every day for the last several weeks) . . .

. . . and I turned these tomato scraps into a red mushroom, which the kids insisted that I photograph for posterity.

Up on the Roof

Today is the first day of a week-long heat wave.  I've gotten tired of the sun heating up our family room through a big skylight, and today I decided to take preemptive action . . .

. . . by covering the skylight with a folded tarp, weighted down with some bricks.  Joy was happy to help with this slightly crazy plan because walking around on a roof was on her personal bucket list.  She's actually been begging us to let her go up on the roof ever since we moved in.  

As soon as the tarp and bricks were in place, she went for a stroll above our attic and then asked me to take a picture of her next to our chimney.  I snapped a quick commemorative photo, then insisted that she come down before she broke something (because I'm a mom, and that's what moms do).

The makeshift skylight cover made our family room much more comfortable, so we relaxed on the couches and did some Mad Libs together.  The kids thought this one was hilarious because we inadvertently named Cinderella's charming prince Kylo Ren (the tall, brooding, sinister guy in the newest Star Wars trilogy).

Anna's Award

A couple days ago, Anna's teacher dropped off a special bag for her class's "Red Carpet Ceremony."

The whole class got dressed up for their Zoom call this morning, then they blew horns, ate treats . . .

. . . and took turns opening envelopes that contained . . .

. . . their end-of-year awards!  One student received gummi bears because they were a "beary good student."  Another received a Snickers bar because they know how to make everyone laugh a lot.

Anna received this award for her "marvelous and magnificent smile . . . and a personality to match!" :D

Masks and Oompa Loompas

The weather has been warming up again lately . . .

. . . so the kids had a squirt gun fight in the backyard this morning.

After lunch, we watched the 1970s version of "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory."  It was one of my favorite movies when I was a kid (except for the boat scene--that is just weird), and today my children enjoyed it as much as I did.

Sorry, Johnny Depp--Gene Wilder totally has you beat in this role.  You make a really good pirate, though.

In other news, I wonder how many more times I'll get ready to go somewhere, put on my lipstick (which is the only makeup I usually wear), then remember I have to wear a mask which will hide that lipstick and rub half of it off.  Maybe the futility of makeup will finally sink in next month. Or the month after that.

An Uplifting Ward Zoom Meeting

Our county still has one of the highest rates of COVID-19 cases in the nation . . .

. . . so our congregation is still meeting virtually on Sundays, and will probably keep doing so for some time.

Joy likes to doodle during church meetings, and today I reminded her that if she wanted to do that, she needed to draw things that were uplifting.  This wasn't quite what I had in mind.

We're All a Little Quirky

A friend recently posted this picture of a rather amusing shirt on her blog:

While my obsession with white whole wheat flour is a bit eccentric, my kids definitely have their quirks too. 

Like wearing a winter coat whilst riding a bike barefoot and in shorts.

Reading and doing subconscious yoga at the same time.

Wearing squishmallows as hats.

Writing scores of sequential numbers for fun.  On this particular number-writing occasion, the following conversation ensued:

Todd: "Do you like what I'm drawing?"

Me: "I like it because I know you love math, and I'm happy that you're doing something you love."

Todd: "Yeah.  Maybe you should send a picture to my teacher."

So I did!  And she responded with a photo from two weeks before the shutdown . . . 

. . . in which two of Todd's classmates are embracing his unique style of numeric art.  I guess you have to be a little quirky to be a trendsetter.

Exciting Stuff

Our family hasn't suffered any major deprivations during this pandemic, but there are a few creature comforts that I've missed as certain store shelves remained empty week after week.  Recently though, I've been thrilled to finally get my hands on . . .

. . . mail-order yeast . . . 

. . . white whole wheat flour (I found some at Target, of all places) . . .

. . . and Charmin!  Lots and lots of Charmin!

Joy says adults get excited about weird stuff.

Candy for Every Occasion

You gotta admit . . .

. . . this is a pretty ingenious marketing campaign.

Also, I think my family needs a case of that pink bag.

The Doodle Game

Todd asked to play with me this afternoon, and I suggested we play the Doodle Game.  Soon our "Artist in Residence" (Joy) joined in, and the other kids quickly followed.

The way the Doodle Game works is that everyone draws a random squiggle on a piece of paper . . .

. . . then we each pass our paper to the person next to us, so they can complete the drawing using a different color.

In this case, Joy turned Todd's pink squiggle into an alien dinosaur chef.

Before long, we had quite a collection of drawings on our dining table.  We showed our favorites to Daddy when he got home . . .

. . . then I hung them on the wall, because I have a thing for homemade art.  And be honest--you wish you had an alien dinosaur chef on your wall too.